Prioritizing Your Pet’s Health: How to Choose a Veterinarian

Just like choosing a doctor for yourself or your children, choosing a veterinarian for your pets is a decision every pet parent must make. But how do you know what to look for or where to start to find a good vet in your local area? We break down the important considerations for you to evaluate when choosing the best vet for your pet.

What to consider when choosing a veterinary practice

Location and accessibility

One of the first factors for finding a good vet will be focused on convenience. Primarily, where is the veterinary practice located, and how easy is it to get to when you need an appointment? When doing your research, evaluate the following:

• Hours/availability. If your schedule requires appointments during the evenings or on weekends, ensure the practice can accommodate that. Scheduling preventative care visits may be offered over different hours than emergency walk-ins.
• Emergency visit options. Know whether or not the practice accepts emergency visits. We always recommend knowing where the closest AAHA-accredited emergency veterinary practice is to your home and whether or not they are your regular veterinarian.
• Proximity to home or work. Your day-to-day routine may make it easier to either have a veterinarian who is close to your home or to your office. Pet-friendly offices are becoming more common, so if you can bring your pet with you, it may help to keep a veterinary practice close to work.
• Parking and transportation. How you get to the veterinary office and where you will park are important details to consider. Cities will have different options than urban or rural areas.

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Accreditation

Veterinary clinics that have received AAHA accreditation can be found through this lookup tool. Accredited practices have taken extra care to ensure that their teams, facilities, and practices are aligned with each of the standards that the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) releases regularly.

These standards cover categories such as: anesthesia, dentistry, emergency and critical care, human resources, medical records, patient care, surgery, and more. Once a practice is accredited, they must continue to adapt to the growing standards and pass a re-evaluation every few years.

In addition to the standards, AAHA-accredited veterinary clinics also have AAHA Guidelines as a valued resource. These guidelines equip every veterinarian with the resources needed for everything from client communication to calculators to assist in clinical diagnosis and treatment of common and less common conditions in dogs and cats. The guidelines help them practice the highest quality care possible. For example, these preventative healthcare guidelines.

When you see the AAHA logo or read that the clinic has received AAHA accreditation, you can trust that the clinic is both following the standards set by AAHA and also following the guidelines to ensure your pet’s continued health. You know that you are putting your pet’s health in the best hands.

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Veterinary team

Your veterinary team is your partner in your pet’s health. It’s helpful to understand the different roles each member of your new support team plays and what each role entails. Each practice will have people in these roles, but the size of the team will depend on the size of the practice. If the size of the support team is important to you, be sure to know how many people fill each of these roles while choosing a veterinarian.

From the front office staff to the veterinary assistants and veterinary technicians, you will potentially engage with several different team members before you meet directly with the Veterinarian.

Feeling connected to the team at the vet practice you visit is essential. As the leader of your pet’s care, it’s important that your veterinary team listen to your concerns, speak in a friendly manner, and answer your questions timely. Understanding how they will communicate with you both while you are in the room and when you leave is important. Be sure to ask if the vet care team uses emails, text, and/or phone calls when you have questions or need follow-up care.

Other common questions related to the veterinary team are whether the team has protocols in place for being cat friendly, or if the team follows Fear Free practices, especially if your pet gets anxious with vet visits. Always consider the needs of your pet when choosing a veterinarian.

Knowing what to expect from both the veterinary practice and the team you will work with, will make everyone feel more secure about your new partnership in caring for your pet.

Services offered

When it comes to veterinary care, practices may offer many types of services. The most common is preventative care, but understanding what is possible at a veterinary practice is crucial. AAHA-accredited veterinary practices will all follow the same set of standards for the services they offer, allowing you to feel comfortable having your pet treated in their care.

• Preventative care. This is the most common type of care that your pet will receive. Every pet should visit the vet for a preventative care appointment annually. During this appointment, your pet will get an overall wellness exam, updates on any vaccinations due, parasite control, and possibly standard bloodwork. As your pet ages, wellness visits are encouraged every six months.
• Diagnostic services. Services include imaging, like ultrasounds or x-rays, and an in-house laboratory to run blood work or check for parasites, fall under diagnostic services. When choosing a veterinarian, check whether the veterinary practice has both the ability to offer these services in-house and whether they have the specialists to read the reports. While the veterinarian may provide an initial read of a radiology report from an ultrasound, they may outsource a radiologist to read the report and confirm any findings.
• Specializations. Like human doctors, veterinarians can specialize in specific areas that may help your pet, such as dentistry, orthopedics, dermatology, cardiology, internal medicine, and others. If your pet needs the support of a specialist veterinarian, ask whether they have that specialist in-house or if they possibly partner with a specialist from another office.
• Treatment options. Not all treatment options need a specialized veterinarian to care for your pet. Routine surgeries, like a spay or neuter, are often performed by all veterinary practices. Additionally, some vet practices offer alternative therapies, like acupuncture or red light therapy. Knowing what treatment options are available at the vet practice will help you understand what you can expect.
• Emergency care availability. Emergency medical pet care is similar to human emergency medical care. It’s mainly done on a first-come, first-served basis, barring a life-threatening emergency. Some clinics have specific hours you can bring your pet in for emergency care, and some clinics are available 24/7. Knowing whether your vet’s office has emergency hours will help you decide whether you need a backup plan in an emergency. Pro tip: call ahead to let any emergency vet know you are on the way. They can let you know an approximate wait time.
• Other services on-site. Many clinics offer services such as grooming, boarding, nail trims, behavior consults, nutritional consults, an on-site pharmacy, and more. Be sure to ask what other services are available and if you can arrange to have them done in conjunction with your wellness visit.

Clinic facilities

When looking for the best vet for your dog or cat, it can help to drop by the facility and see the office for yourself. A minute or two in the waiting room will give you an idea of what spending time in the space will be like for you and your pet, and you can introduce yourself to the front office staff.

Take a look at how the seating is set up in the lobby. Make a plan for how you will enter with your pet, and note whether you need to plan for anything in particular. For instance, if you have an anxious cat, is there a way to tuck yourself into a corner? Ensuring you know how to keep your pet safe in the new environment will better prepare you for your first trip to the clinic.

You can also look around and get a sense of the overall cleanliness and organization of the clinic. AAHA-accredited clinics must meet standards for the upkeep of their space, so seeing that logo on a website will already let you know that you can expect a clean and organized space.

Client communication and education

Every pet parent wants to have a good relationship with their veterinarian team, including everyone from the office staff to the vet techs to the veterinarians themselves. Before your first visit, check out their website for educational resources. Do they have an email newsletter you can sign up for? Do they have basic pet wellness care information readily available on their website?

Once you are in the office, be sure to ask all your questions. If you do not understand an explanation, let the veterinarian know and ask for clarification. How the vet and their team respond to questions and concerns will help you feel good about your visit.

Creating a trusting relationship with your veterinarian and the whole staff who will be involved in your pet’s care is essential. Open communication helps create a unified team with the common goal of happy and healthy pets.

Cost and payment options

There is no doubt about the financial responsibility of being a pet parent. Understanding the costs involved ahead of time can help you prepare for your pet’s care. Before you choose a veterinarian, be sure to understand the potential costs. A quick phone call can provide you with a quote.

You may also want to consider pet insurance. There are many plans to choose from, some of which help cover routine wellness care. Most veterinary practices do not work directly with pet insurance companies, but it’s worth asking since it’s a practice that is slowly shifting.

You can also ask about payment plans and other forms of financial assistance. Most veterinary practices accept Care Credit, a financing option for larger pet expenses.

Never be afraid to ask for a quote for the care of your pet while remembering that since your pet cannot specifically tell you what is wrong, you may encounter unexpected expenses along the way.

Why choose an AAHA-accredited practice?

Unlike the human world of medical care, the veterinary world does not have required standards or accreditations. Getting any kind of accreditation is voluntary for all veterinary practices. When a clinic decides to earn AAHA accreditation, they are committing to the safety and well-being of your pet by prioritizing standards that exceed expectations.

What does AAHA accreditation mean?

A veterinary practice that is AAHA-accredited has been evaluated on nearly 50 mandatory standards and almost 900 total standards covering everything about veterinary care, from pain management to client services to surgery to emergency care and more. AAHA-accredited clinics not only achieve this high quality of care standard but also receive ongoing support from AAHA’s dedicated accreditation specialists. While accreditation builds trust with you as the pet parent, it also supports the clinic in continuing to offer the best care.

Benefits of choosing an AAHA-accredited practice

When you are faced with the question of how to find the best veterinarian for your pet, seeking the AAHA accreditation logo provides you with the knowledge that the clinic holds itself to high standards for care. It allows you to build a relationship with your veterinary team and focus on the health and happiness of your pet.

Whether you are welcoming a new pet to the family, relocating, or have another reason for needing a new veterinarian, do your research and find an AAHA-accredited veterinary practice to ensure your pet will get the best care.